


Knots

by miera



Series: Rescue Operation [5]
Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-28
Updated: 2010-01-28
Packaged: 2017-10-06 19:01:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/56807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miera/pseuds/miera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hoshi's take on events in "A Prayer For Malcolm Reed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Knots

Hoshi hurried to her quarters, moving as fast as she could without drawing attention to herself. The debriefing was over, she was officially off duty.

Reaching the privacy of her quarters, she locked the door and put her comm. on "do not disturb." She was finally alone with her thoughts. Rolling her head from side to side, she attempted to work some of the knots of tension out of her shoulders.

This had been the longest day of her life.

* * *

When she'd first come across the information regarding the formal reception that morning, she had sat quite still at her console, reading and rereading, hoping there was a translation error. When she was certain she had translated right, she stared blankly into space for several minutes until she became aware that Travis was trying to make eye contact with her. Looking up, both Travis and Malcolm were watching her concernedly. Archer had come out on the Bridge and was looking at her expectantly.

She blushed a rather bright red.

Not as bright, however, as the Captain turned a few minutes later when she informed him they had to attend the formal reception naked. Archer coughed so hard he needed to get a drink of water. Seeing the look on Hoshi's face, he'd handed her one as well.

This particular alien culture regarded clothing as something unnecessary during leisure hours. Clothes were for work, and to wear them to a party would be insulting. Which meant the Enterprise officers were going to have to do as the Romans did, so to speak.

The Captain decided to limit their presence to only necessary personnel. Hoshi had to be present, since Archer disliked relying on the UT during delicate situations. Which meant Hoshi was going to have to go to the reception. Naked.

With the Captain, T'Pol, and Malcolm Reed.

Bad enough that there would be two men there, and that one of them would be Malcolm, but naked next to T'Pol? Hoshi wondered if she could somehow bribe Phlox into telling Archer she was sick. Or possibly some emergency cosmetic surgery.

The Vulcan woman appeared almost amused at the reactions of her human crew mates to the news. Malcolm turned so pale Hoshi thought for a second he might keel over. If Hoshi hadn't been so nervous herself, she would've laughed at him.

Hoshi had never spoken to Malcolm about the kiss they had shared in her quarters. She hadn't stopped obsessively thinking about it ever since, but the more time passed, the more impossible it became to even try and talk about it. She told herself to let it go, just cherish the memory, and relax.

Meanwhile she'd been avoiding Malcolm a lot of the time.

And now this...

She had spent the entire day with her stomach in a knot. At lunch, Liz and Kai had teased her so much that she snapped at them. Seeing the shock on her friends' faces, Hoshi dropped her head in her hands and muttered. "I can't do this. I'm going to die of embarrassment."

Liz patted her arm reassuringly. "Don't worry so much, Hoshi. The Captain strikes me as the gentlemanly type. And Lieutenant Reed will probably be too humiliated to look anywhere but the floor."

Hoshi felt her knotted stomach abruptly fall to her feet. She had been so consumed with the fact that Malcolm was going to see _her_, it hadn't really dawned on her that _she_ would also see _him_.

She was going to see Malcolm naked. They were both going to be naked. Together. In the same place.

Unfortunately, not in the right way.

Excitement and apprehension twisted together in her spine and Hoshi pressed her palms against her closed eyes and cursed in Russian. "God damn it. This is going to be hell."

* * *

Hoshi arrived in the shuttle bay on time and fully dressed. They were going to wait until they landed, i.e. until the last possible moment, before having to shuck their clothing. Trip was prepping the shuttle, for once not whining about being left behind.

"She's all ready, Cap'n," Trip grinned to Archer as they climbed into pod two. Hoshi was last in line, and she saw Trip clap Malcolm's shoulder and chuckle. "Have fun." She saw Trip's eyes dart towards T'Pol and then back to Malcolm's face, and he smirked.

Hoshi couldn't decide which of them she wanted to kill more.

* * *

"The First Minister and his entourage are approaching the shuttle," T'Pol observed into the silence that had descended on the shuttle after landing. With her usual preternatural calm, the Vulcan began to strip out of her clothing.

There was nothing else for it. The three other members of the away team followed suit.

Over the rustle of clothing coming off, Hoshi's ears caught a murmur coming from Malcolm's direction. She definitely heard "Please" and "God" being mumbled. T'Pol went swishing past them to open the shuttle door at that moment.

Clenching her teeth, Hoshi stood up, totally nude, and forced herself to look at her crewmates. She met Archer's eyes, and couldn't help smirking, since her eyes were on his face a few heartbeats before his managed to make it up that high.

Jonathan Archer was rather cute when he blushed. He gave her an apologetic look, and she smiled. Relieved, he followed T'Pol outside.

Hoshi looked over at Malcolm, who was standing stiffly, his back and neck keeping his head looking straight forward. His eyes seemed to be lingering just above Hoshi's head. He shrugged slightly, without meeting her glance.

Hoshi glared. And then smirked. "So, where did you hide your phase pistol, Lieutenant?"

That earned her more than a look. Apparently when Malcolm blushed, it covered his entire body.

Giving him a falsely sweet smile, Hoshi exited the shuttle. It was possible she wriggled her ass in his direction more than was strictly necessary given the situation.

* * *

Hoshi sat down on her bed, cross-legged, and sighed. The reception itself hadn't been all that bad, aside from the constant distraction of seeing her own crew wandering about unclothed. She was able to sit down and keep the UT in front of her for much of the night. She was so busy keeping tabs on the small talk going on and trying to sort out the language that time had passed rather swiftly.

But now, alone in her quarters, she no longer had the excuse of shoving her emotions aside in order to work. No, not her emotions, she thought. Let's be blunt. Arousal.

It figured that she would be forgotten. Archer and Malcolm had both gone to Phlox for some pharmaceutical assistance to get them through the evening. T'Pol, presumably, didn't need it.

No one had given a thought to her reactions. Not innocent little Hoshi. She would just be modest and not notice the two gorgeous men walking around buck naked in front of her. Oh no.

Reaching into a drawer, she pulled out her stash of chocolate and popped a piece in her mouth. The sweet taste flowed over her tongue and calmed her down. Hoshi smiled slightly in the low lighting. The next time she got roped into a discussion with the female crew about the respective assets of the male crew, she was going to be an expert witness on Jon Archer's behalf. Maybe rank really did make a difference.

Eating another piece, she sighed. As impressive as the Captain was, she kept recalling how Malcolm looked as she watched surreptitiously from her table. She'd been unfair when she wrote him off as "scrawny" back when they first met. He certainly was physically smaller than Archer, Trip or Travis.

In more ways than one, she smirked.

The difference, though, was that Malcolm didn't have one ounce of fat on him anywhere. Every part of him—Hoshi closed her eyes to remember better—was sculpted like it was made out of rock. Arms, legs, ass, all the parts that his clothes had only offered glimpses of before, were nearly perfect, toned and hard.

The bag of chocolate fell to the floor as Hoshi leaned back against her pillows. There were only two parts of Malcolm Reed's body that were soft. His hair, and his lips. She knew this from personal experience.

The memory of Malcolm kissing her came back, all those hard muscles pressed up against her, her hands in his hair. Hoshi absently brushed a hand across her stomach. Instantly she wondered what it would feel like to have Malcolm's surprisingly soft lips there instead.

The knot in her stomach took a abrupt leap lower down in her body.

With a small sigh, Hoshi reached over and fished something else out of the drawer in the nightstand. She shut the lights off all the way.

Some time later, when she was close to drifting off, Hoshi became conscious that while most of her body was buried limply in the mattress, there was still a sore spot—a knot in her neck.

She ignored the lingering spot of tension, burrowed her head into her pillow, and attempted to sleep.

It took a long time.


End file.
